RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif. -
All five Washington crews that competed Sunday morning successfully advanced through heat racing and will join the three Husky boats that earned automatic berths into this afternoon's grand final races of the Pac-10 Rowing Championships at Lake Natoma.

The grand finals begin at 2 p.m. with the women's varsity four competition. The championship regatta concludes with the men's varsity eight grand final at 3:50 p.m. followed by the women's varsity eight at 4 p.m. The afternoon weather forecast calls for temperatures in the 80s with a slight breeze in the Sacramento area.

The Huskies' men's varsity eight heat was delayed and pushed to the end of the morning schedule due to a broken seat in the Stanford shell. The Cardinal fixed the boat and proceeded to win the race with the fastest heat time of 5-minutes, 50.8-seconds. Washington was second in 5:56.6 followed by Loyola Marymount in 6:04.7. California posted a winning time of 5:57.3 in the other heat.

This afternoon's men's varsity eight race features a clash between three of the nation's top-ranked crews. Defending conference champion California is ranked No. 2, Stanford No. 3 and Washington No. 7. The Huskies won the 2003 and 2004 Pac-10 varsity eight titles.

The 11th-ranked UW women's varsity eight also placed second in its heat. UW clocked a time of 6:35.0 to finish behind the 6:28.8 turned in by defending national champion California. Third-ranked USC won the other heat in 6:33.7.

All six crews in today's final of the women's featured event are ranked in the national top 20. Cal is ranked No. 2 followed by No. 3 USC, No. 8 Washington State, No. 11 Washington, No. 12 UCLA and No. 16 Stanford.

The UW women's second varsity eight was beaten for the first time in seven races this season, placing second in its heat. UCLA finished first in 6:34.8 followed by UW in 6:35.1 and Stanford in 6:44.5. California won the other heat with a time of 6:45.9.

Stanford edged the Huskies by two seats in the women's varsity four heat, recording a first-place time of 7:11.8. UW had a time of 7:12.3 and Oregon State was third in 7:14.5. California was the winner in the other heat with a time of 7:09.9.

A few non-conference schools competed in the Pac-10 regatta which also serve as the Pacific Coast championships. Those teams will not be included in the Pac-10 standings, but they are eligible to row in the grand finals.

One non-conference school taking advantage of that was Gonzaga, which registered the fastest women's novice eight time of 6:41.3. The Huskies' first-year rowers placed second in that heat with a time of 6:43.0 that was the best mark turned in by a Pac-10 member crew. California won the other women's novice heat in 6:45.9

There were no heats in the men's freshman eight event in which the grand final is highlighted by a battle between Washington and California crews that have dominated their opponents all season. The Golden Bears won the only previous meeting this season, edging the Huskies April 22 in the Bay Area.

There were no heat races in two other men's events, the second varsity eight and varsity fours. UW crews in those events automatically advanced into the grand finals.

Live video and results from the Pac-10 Rowing Championships are available today on the internet at: JamcoTimes.com

A recap of today's action will be available Sunday afternoon at the official UW website, www.gohuskies.com